Laura and Greg met with me about a year before their hoped for wedding date and told me they wanted to plan a destination wedding in La Jolla and were looking for a venue with an ocean view that could hold up to 125 people and would be fully customizable, meaning they could bring in their own caterer and alcohol. I showed them the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Forum, and the Martin Johnson House–a little gem on the cliffs of Scripps. They fell in love with the Martin Johnson House and felt it’s rustic vibe would lend perfectly to the style of wedding they wanted to create. Laura also wanted a church wedding and was hoping for a smaller, chapel-like feel. I recommended the chapel at La Jolla Presbyterian Church. For a décor starting point, Laura told me that she and Greg had actually met in a library (studying during college they told me!) and I felt like we HAD to incorporate a touch of a library motif. Since Laura wanted a vintage look, we felt the two would correspond perfectly!
I love these gorgeous pictures of Laura, above, getting ready! And the pictures below of the chapel and Greg with his groomsmen are so sweet!
For colors, Laura really liked teal, as she thought it would blend with the ocean backdrop, and wanted a mixture of wildflowers in yellows, pinks, and oranges with whites and ivories mixed in. Chris from Indulge Weddings and Events did all the floral décor. I love the La Jolla Cove pictures below, especially love the dresses and bouquets with the ocean-scape.
Since Laura’s whole décor scheme followed a vintage, retro-feel, when it came to transporting wedding party and guests, we thought a yellow school bus would be perfect! Guests all stayed in downtown La Jolla so they walked to the church and were then transported up to the Martin Johnson and back to their hotels at the end of the night via the yellow school bus! Check out the wedding party below and the gorgeous view from the Martin Johnson House!
For reception décor, we started with rectangular banquet tables with white linens and burlap runners and a natural wood chair. Chris added mixed glassware, including teal candle holders, and added wildflowers in Laura’s tones. It was so pretty and so perfect! Laura loved the idea of these wine bottle table numbers pictured below. She collected the bottles then we ordered the table numbers from Etsy. Her cute idea was that each table number would correspond to the year they would be married. Laura and Greg asked guests at each table to write a note and stuff it in the bottle. The plan was that they would then break the bottle and read the notes on the corresponding anniversary. So for year 7, they would smash bottle number 7. Such a cute DIY touch! Greg is a big beer guy and brews his own. It was super important to him to bring in great craft beer. His personal touch for the wedding was customized beer koozies. Also, as a nod to the whole “meeting in the library” thing, we had library card escort cards created and Chris brought this great card box as a way to display them (bottom right). And our menus were also bookmarks (more library theme)!
The night was perfect! Dancing under the strung lights beneath the starts was so fun! And check out the beer cask groom’s cake! Thanks to Vallentyne Photography for all the beautiful photos!
Cynthia Zatkin Events 
Leave a Reply